Said Senator Janet Howell (D-Fairfax), “We absolutely cannot divert funding from traditional public schools as long as we still have crowded classrooms and crumbling schools. And yet that is what both these bills aim to do. Our teachers will struggle to teach to the standard that we need them to – that our children deserve – if this money gets reallocated.”

Said Senator Kenny Alexander (D-Norfolk), “We’ve heard from people at the state level and we’ve heard from people at the local level, and they all agree: what we are doing here is depriving our already underfunded schools of money at the expense of lower income families. These education savings accounts are not means-based and there is no accountability or adequate standard to which these children – our most vulnerable children – are being taught once they exit the public school system.”